I LOVE shaping surfboards and I'm kinda obsessed with this craft. Even though I am about to shape my 205th board I'm still considering myself as a novice but I hope to become a master one day... This blog is a virtual portfolio and a diary of my journey in the shaping world. Feel free to leave comments or contact me directly at valerie@meremadesurfboards.com.

Valerie Duprat

-Shaper of Mère-Made Surfboards

Saturday, December 13, 2014

board#059: longboard for Rico Leroy

(Photo: Christophe Brachet)

Dimensions: 9'0 x 22 x 2 7/8[completed in July 2014]

The story: Pro surfer Rico Leroy is the “French Laird
Hamilton”.From SUP, OC, longboard,
canoe surfing, big wave riding, Rico is a complete ocean athlete. His record of achievement is multi-disciplinary and the list I so long I would just refer you to his
webpage: here.Amongt that list, I would
mention his recent title of Tandem Surfing World Champion he won last year with
his partner Sarah Burel. Tandem surfing is actually how we crossed path many years ago
when I used to compete with Fred Branger.Rico and Sarah were always eager to share their aloha and lift tricks with
other tandem couples. Although rivals in the line-up we rapidly became friends.
Even if I stopped competing (as my partner moved away from US), tandem surfing
is still deeply anchored in my heart and I would not miss an opportunity to go
out for an occasional session, specially with The world champion!!! (Scroll
down and you will see some pictures of Rico and I tandem surfing)

The shape:The
idea of shaping a longboard for such a professional water man was mind blowing.
It was a huge deal for me. I had a couple of sleepless nights with cold
sweat.His instructions about the
dimensions were very minimal and I just had to go with my guts on an improvised
shape. I was at SWOP Surfboards factory
and I stole David Charbonnel’s favorite longboard template to create the
outline. The rest of the shape was intuitive and supervised by Master SWOP
himself.

The artwork: “black/red/grey” was the only
requirement from Rico.I fetched the
masking tape and start playing with lines it to create a modern and masculine
design. As usual, I used the blank as a color (white) which turned out an ideal
spot for Rico’s sponsors’ stickers.